CPS ENERGY’S BOARD OF TRUSTEES VOTE ON HOW TO POWER SAN ANTONIO’S FUTURE

The Board voted today on a blended generation mix to power San Antonio through 2030

January 23, 2023 (SAN ANTONIO) – Today, the CPS Energy Board of Trustees voted to approve a plan on how to power the San Antonio community through 2030. The generation planning portfolio chosen was Portfolio 2, a blend of gas, solar, wind and energy storage.

 “I am proud of the work CPS Energy has done in order to get to the decision that was made today,” said Board Chair, Dr. Willis Mackey. “I look forward to watching CPS Energy execute the next steps in providing reliable and affordable service to our customers.”

 “I am thankful to my fellow Board members for their vote today as it wraps up a more than year-long diligent process by our Rate Advisory Committee,” said CPS Energy Board Trustee and RAC Board Liaison, Dr. Francine Romero. “This process reflects community prioritization of both reliability and environmental sustainability. I am proud of the work the committee and our CPS Energy team have done in evaluating options to power our community and look forward to continued collaboration and communication as leadership executes on the plan.”

 “This path will accelerate our progress toward carbon neutrality by shifting permanently away from coal,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg.  “It culminates a months-long process by the Rate Advisory Committee. This plan is community informed and supported and will result in greater flexibility and cleaner air.”   

 “Today marks the success of a comprehensive education and engagement process and our commitment to reliably power our community,” said Rudy D. Garza, President & CEO of CPS Energy.  “I want to emphasize this will be an ongoing conversation with our community as new technologies develop and we continue to pursue innovation and decarbonize while keeping the lights on during extreme events. Our team is now focusing their time and attention to the next stage of this process – which is getting the work done to put this plan into place.”

The generation planning process considered replacing aging plants and the continued use of coal while meeting the city’s climate goals, maintaining reliability and remaining competitively-priced in the nation’s fastest growing city. The Board’s decision followed input from the community and the Rate Advisory Committee (RAC). At the direction of the Board, the RAC spent the last year reviewing the utility’s current power generation resources and future options in meetings with CPS Energy and consultants. CPS Energy also held a series of community engagement efforts, among which included open houses, a virtual town hall and customer survey. Final survey results indicated the following customer consideration preferences:

• System reliability & climate resiliency: CPS Energy’s ability to consistently deliver electrical power to a home or business, including during extreme weather events – 29%
• Affordability: A customer’s ability to pay for monthly electric services – 26%
• Environmental sustainability: The environmental impact of the CPS Energy generation mix – 14%
• System Flexibility: A planning objective to diversify the generation mix to support CPS Energy’s ability to respond to changing conditions – 15%
• CPS Energy Financial Stability: Services to customers are provided at a rate that consistently generates enough revenue to meet CPS Energy’s expenses – 9%
• CPS Energy workforce impact: CPS Energy employees impacted by power plant closure or the additional employees needed for a planned new power plant – 4%
• Other – 3%

For a Stakeholder Engagement and Public Input Report highlighting the various ways CPS Energy engaged with the community and stakeholders during the power generation planning process, click  here.  A detailed 68-page report with verbatim survey comments is available here.

About CPS Energy

Established in 1860, CPS Energy is the nation’s largest public power, natural gas, and electric company, providing safe, reliable, and competitively priced service to 907,526 electric and 373,988 natural gas customers in San Antonio and portions of seven adjoining counties. Our customers’ combined energy bills rank among the lowest of the nation’s 20 largest cities while generating $9 billion in revenue for the City of San Antonio for more than eight decades. As a trusted and strong community partner, we continuously focus on job creation, economic development, and educational investment. We are powered by our skilled workforce, whose commitment to the community is demonstrated through our employees’ volunteerism in giving back to our city and programs aimed at bringing value to our customers. CPS Energy is among the top public power wind energy buyers in the nation and number one in Texas for solar generation.